As a governmental intercessor in Florida for the past 25 years, this has been the most difficult election in my lifetime. Looking at the candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, both have high negatives. Most people don’t trust either one of them!
My husband, Tenney, and I have expressed our own misgivings, including with our adult children when we’ve sat down to dinner together at our home in the capital city of Tallahassee. Neither of these candidates would be someone we’d tell our kids, This is a person of godly character who you should seek to emulate.
Facing God’s Honest Truth
Anyone who says Donald Trump doesn’t have character issues has never looked at his life. He has been a playboy and a man of ferocious ungodly appetites for money, women and worldly pleasures. Even he would not deny that.
The tape we all heard of him making repulsive comments about women was grievous. Those things he said 11 years ago should be condemned in the strongest terms. Due to his character issues, Mr. Trump was not my first, fourth or even 15th choice for president.
Yet the discussion around our dinner table has turned to, where does he stand now? Is he the same man today as we heard on that tape? I don’t think anybody knows that for sure. He says he isn’t, but I think those are the questions we’re all asking.
I’ve now had five different occasions to hear Donald Trump speak live, including getting to meet him and pray with him personally. I believe God is trying to get a hold of this man.
The gospel can certainly change people; I’ve seen answered prayers change our nation. I pray every day for Donald Trump and for Hillary Clinton. His salvation and his standing with God are more important than him being in the White House. I pray the same thing for Hillary Clinton, for her to get right with God.
One of these two people is going to be president. Neither candidate can save America, but Jesus Christ bringing a great awakening can. Jesus is our hope. As Christians, God has called us to be involved in the political arena and pray for godly government. In a serious conversation recently, one pastor told me, “I’m just going to abstain from voting.” You cannot do that! It would be giving up our God-given stewardship.
Between the two candidates Trump and Clinton, whom do I want to have lead us? Personally, I’ve made the decision to vote for Trump because of his pro-life stand.
People ask me, “How do you know he’s pro-life?” We don’t know for sure what he’ll do in office, that’s true. But we do know what he said in the third debate. I was astounded at what Hillary Clinton said—and very thankful for what Donald Trump said—in regards to the partial-birth abortion issue.
Innocent lives in the womb are at stake. If you get the issue of life wrong, you get everything else wrong; even if you get a few other things right, it doesn’t matter.
The Courts Are the Crux of the Matter
It’s all about the Supreme Court this year, because the Court is going to influence everything for the next 40 years. That’s not only affecting the grandchildren I have now; that is my great-grandchildren.
My vote will go to a candidate who has promised to appoint Supreme Court Justices who will adhere to the U.S. Constitution, including the pro-life ethics that are part of it. I have stood with Bound4LIFE in front of the U.S. Supreme Court for years and prayed there. Our team has prayed outside and inside the Florida Supreme Court and with some of the justices.
Justices should not be legislating from the bench, as we saw in the Texas case this past summer—overturning a state law that reflected the will of the people. That sort of judicial activism is ruining our country! We need to be praying for these judges, even as we appeal to the Highest Judge in our land.
It’s not only the Supreme Court, but all the way down to the circuit courts and district courts. These judges are ruling America, and Hillary Clinton has promised more of the same! We need to see a shift regarding the courts.
Christian teacher and author Dutch Sheets stated it well, writing: “Vote against an unelected, unaccountable, overreaching, out-of-control Judiciary that believes it has the right to reshape America.” Dutch has wept for the heart of this nation for decades. In fact, one of the things that catapulted me into standing in prayer for our government was learning intercession through his ministry.
We’ve all wrestled with this election—I’ve spoken with Dutch personally. Dutch Sheets, Franklin Graham and Mike Bickle have stated clearly: Jesus Christ is the only hope for America, and this election is about the Supreme Court. Many of us have come to that same place, feeling God’s heart regarding the issue of life and how that guides our vote on Nov. 8.
Today, not all believers or Christian leaders have reached the same conclusions.
Seeking Heaven When All Hell Breaks Loose
The political debates of Christian against Christian have gotten really unkind and ugly. That’s exactly what the devil wants. Mike Bickle of the International House of Prayer-Kansas City preached recently that the harsh judgments Christians are making against people (including each other) are absolutely shameful.
We all need to humble ourselves in repentance, asking God to deal with our hearts first. I am praying a lot: “God, help us to love as You love and to be very careful what we say—particularly in these final days before the election.”
Then we can seek Him to deal with the candidates and our country. We should be putting our faces down in the dirt and crying out for God to have mercy on America. With either one of these candidates, we’re dealing with judgment from God—it’s just going to look different depending on the outcome.
Our team at International House of Prayer-Tallahassee is in the midst of 40 days of prayer and fasting for the election. During this season, the Lord keeps bringing us back to the book of Daniel.
We see then, as now, that the war is in the heavenly realm—God’s purposes advance against the enemy through prayer and fasting. Things are intensifying over these past few days.
If we could see with our natural eyes the warfare going on over America, between angels and demons, it is very real. It’s because of the issue of life, because of the breakdown of families, and because of Israel being under assault. All of these are biblical issues that matter.
Building Bridges and Seeking Unity
Over the next few days, if Christians will really take their role seriously in prayer and fasting, understand that is what can shift our nation. It’s not about the horse race of one personality against another. A better place to start is comparing the two party platforms—one platform stands for life, and the other stands for death.
One thing gives me hope. Bible-believing, born-again Christians are surrounding Trump—and not to get some position at the White House either. Gov. Mike Pence is a godly man who didn’t just find Jesus in time for an election.
Many of the faith leaders Trump relies on, such as Dr. James Dobson, Governor Mike Huckabee, Tony Perkins and Ralph Reed, are leaders I know personally and whom I trust after decades of seeing them faithfully uphold biblical values.
One of the senior advisers on his campaign was a prayer partner of mine when she was in Florida, and we’ve had lengthy discussions. Now, they have been appalled at some things we’ve seen revealed, but they are seeking to provide godly direction. One thing we need to pray is that whoever is elected listens to good counsel.
I’m thankful for Dutch Sheets and the Appeal to Heaven prayer gatherings, as well as for the 50-state Decision America tour that Franklin Graham did across our nation. I was honored to stand with thousands of others as Rev. Graham lead in prayer at the State Capitol in Tallahassee. I was able to thank him personally for leading this amazing call to prayer for America.
People all across this nation are praying together—moms and dads and children, college students in their dorm rooms, people in churches and houses of prayer, in groups of five or 25 or 100. I have been on conference calls with prayer leaders in all 50 states.
We are crying out to God and asking Him, “Lord, would You send an awakening? Would You have mercy on us? Would You give us righteous judges?” Because the bottom line is, the future of our nation flows from what we do regarding the shedding of innocent blood.
In Our Families and Churches, Let the Prayers Arise
What I told our family around the dinner table is, “One of these two people will lead us. Which one do you want? Because we know where she’s going to take us.” That’s what God is asking His people too: Which one do you want?
If Trump is elected, we don’t know exactly what he will do. However, I do trust some of the people around Trump advising him.
We do know what she’s going to do, because she has said it clearly: Clinton will fight to see Roe v. Wade be further entrenched in law, she will fight for partial-birth abortion to be legalized and she will fight for further social experimentation regarding sexuality and marriage.
All of those policy goals are going after our children. To me, protecting the unborn and vulnerable children is what it’s all about. As a rather outspoken mother and grandmother, I’m going to fight for them until I no longer can!
Believers must not be silent in this hour. Someone recently told me regarding the election, “God is sovereign, so His will be done—no matter what.” He is misunderstanding the sovereignty of God; the Word says it’s our responsibility to pray and to speak truth.
We cannot do His part, and God won’t do our part. If we don’t do our part as Christians, God allows us to have the wicked leaders we deserve. In humility and the fear of God, we’d better be praying and fasting. This is a spiritual war over the very heart and soul of our nation.
As I cast my vote for Donald Trump on Nov. 8, it will be with much prayer—and I will not stop praying. We must all stay on the wall of intercession for America! {eoa}
Pam Olsen is a wife, mother, grandmother, intercessor and missionary. Pam and her husband Tenney founded the International House of Prayer-Tallahassee in 2005, where they serve together as executive directors. Pam is also the President of the Florida Prayer Network and involved in prayer coalitions nationwide. Her son Jared Olsen serves as regional coordinator of Bound4LIFE. Pam and Tenney live in Tallahassee, Florida near their four adult children and multiplying number of grandchildren.
The views of the author are her individual opinions and not necessarily those of Bound4LIFE International, which takes no position for or against individual candidates.
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